Machine Learning Engineering Manager - Music

Spotify; United States; Hybrid; USD 184,000 - 263,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Parental leave

401(k) retirement plan

Meal allowance

Paid days off

Flexible holidays

Job summary

Spotify is seeking an Engineering Manager for the Oasis Squad to lead a multidisciplinary team of ML, data, and backend engineers building systems central to music experiences.

You will provide technical leadership on ML systems, coach engineers, and collaborate with Senior partners across Personalization, Product, and the music business to drive impactful decisions. This role emphasizes staying hands-on when needed while enabling a high-performing, trusted team.

Qualifications

• Experience managing engineers and a track record of developing technical ICs.
• Solid background in machine learning and ML system design.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary team of ML, data, and backend engineers with autonomy and mentorship.
• Provide technical leadership on complex ML systems, shaping modeling strategy and implementation.
• Represent the team with cross-functional stakeholders across business, product, insights, and personalization missions.

Job description

As the Engineering Manager of the Oasis Squad, you’ll lead a multidisciplinary team of machine learning, data, and backend engineers building ML systems at the heart of how Spotify shapes and delivers music experiences.

Oasis needs a people leader with significant technical machine learning depth who can help the team navigate complex technical strategy, shifting business needs, and high-impact cross-functional decisions. A great manager for this team will give experienced engineers meaningful autonomy while staying deeply engaged in their technical work. You’ll have the ML expertise to assess technical tradeoffs, steer the team toward decisions, and represent its technical direction with senior partners across Personalization, Product, and the music business. This is a role for someone who enjoys being close to both the people and the work: coaching engineers, creating clarity amidst constant change, and enabling a high-performing team to move quickly without adding unnecessary process.

If this role excites you but you don't meet every requirement, we'd still love to hear from you. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds.

What You'll Do

• Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary team of ML, data, and backend engineers, giving experienced ICs meaningful autonomy while providing active mentorship and coaching where needed.

• Provide technical leadership on complex ML systems, engaging deeply enough with modeling strategy and implementation to challenge assumptions, assess tradeoffs, identify risks, and help the team make decisions.

• Represent and advocate for the team with cross-functional stakeholders across business, product, insights, and the personalization mission, balancing technical concerns with business needs.

• Empower engineers to own technical decisions, but recognize when the team needs you to provide direction, resolve a tradeoff, or make the decision yourself.

• Be the point of contact for requests from cross-functional partners, filtering the important updates to the team and preserving their heads down time.

• Own healthy delivery, including prioritization, capacity management, operational health, and reliable execution, while favoring lightweight processes that help the team move quickly and learn.

• Stay close to the engineering craft and act as a player-coach when useful, including contributing hands-on to technical problem solving and engineering work.

• Help the team use AI effectively in engineering workflows and identify opportunities for AI to improve both how we build and the ML systems we create.

• Hire and onboard engineers as the team evolves, building the capabilities and knowledge distribution needed for the team to remain resilient over time.

Who You Are

• Experience managing engineers and a demonstrated track record of developing and managing technical ICs.

• You have a solid background in machine learning and can engage credibly in modeling strategy, ML system design, and technical discussions with experienced ML practitioners.

• You can independently assess ML strategies and technical tradeoffs, challenge assumptions, and clearly represent a technical direction with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• You are comfortable operating in an environment where technical strategy must account for evolving product and business needs, and can create clarity for your team through sudden shifts in direction.

• You build trust with experienced engineers by giving them autonomy and avoiding unnecessary oversight, while remaining close enough to their work to coach effectively, understand risks, and step in when needed.

• You view yourself as your team’s advocate.

• You are a thoughtful leader who knows when to facilitate a decision, when to let the team decide, and when to make the decision yourself.

• You favor lightweight, purposeful processes over process for its own sake. You can maintain a strong understanding of work, risks, and delivery without creating unnecessary overhead for the team.

• You are comfortable making calculated tradeoffs, learning through iteration, and helping teams move quickly while maintaining appropriate technical and operational standards.

• You can manage substantial technical, product, and business dependencies with partner teams and build credibility with senior cross-functional stakeholders.

• You are comfortable using AI tools and have a point of view on how AI can improve engineering effectiveness and evolve ML-powered products.

• You value healthy disagreement, clear ownership, accountability, and an inclusive environment where people can do their best work.

• Experience with data engineering and backend is a plus.

Where You'll Be

• We offer you the flexibility to work where you work best! For this role, it can be within the North America region in which we have a work location.

• This team collaborates across the Eastern time zone

The United States base range for this position is $184,049 - 262,928 plus equity. The benefits available for this position include health insurance, six month paid parental leave, 401(k) retirement plan, monthly meal allowance, 23 paid days off, 13 paid flexible holidays. This range encompasses multiple levels. Leveling is determined during the interview process. Placement in a level depends on relevant work history and interview performance. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Spotify is an equal opportunity employer. You are welcome at Spotify for who you are, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or what’s playing in your headphones. Our platform is for everyone, and so is our workplace. The more voices we have represented and amplified in our business, the more we will all thrive, contribute, and be forward-thinking! So bring us your personal experience, your perspectives, and your background. It’s in our differences that we will find the power to keep revolutionizing the way the world listens.

At Spotify, we are passionate about inclusivity and making sure our entire recruitment process is accessible to everyone. We have ways to request reasonable accommodations during the interview process and help assist in what you need. If you need accommodations at any stage of the application or interview process, please let us know - we’re here to support you in any way we can.